Fundamentals of Music Theory

God does not call the equipped

He equips the called
When words fail,
Music speaks
I play the notes as they are written;
But it is God who plays the music
-Bach
Music makes me strong;
God makes me stronger
Where there is devotional music
God is always at hand
with His gracious presence
-Bach
Music is God’s best gift to
humankind
When a body vibrates, it produces s
ound
Sound travels in a wave form
Any wave is a periodic function
The number of vibrations per second
is called the frequency
Our human ear is capable of hearing
frequencies between 60 to 10,000 vi
brations per second

Emmanuel Jebarajan
 Parameters of sound
There are three parameters for sound

 Pitch
 Loudness
 Timbre

Emmanuel Jebarajan
 Pitch
The lower the frequency, the pitch is
low
The higher the frequency, the pitch i
s high
If the pitch is low we get a bass soun
d
If the pitch is high we get a treble so
und
 Loudness
If the amplitude of the frequency is more,
the loudness increases
Remember that the number of vibrations i
s SAME, but the amplitude alone is increas
ed to get a louder sound.
If the sounds of the same pitch are produc
ed at two sources, the loudness does NOT
double! But the loudness increases propor
tionately
 Timbre
The timbre is the quality of the soun
d.
Two musical instruments, with the sa
me frequency do not produce the sou
nd of the same timbre.
Timbre depends on the shape of the
frequency curve(wave form)
 wave form of a tuning fork

Wave form of a Piano

Wave form of a violin

Emmanuel Jebarajan

A-D-S-R : Attack time, Decay time, Sustain Level, Reverb

erating time
 Notes Frequency (octaves)

A 55.00 110.00 220.00 440.00 880.00

A# 58.27 116.54 233.08 466.16 932.32

B 61.74 123.48 246.96 493.92 987.84

C 65.41 130.82 261.64 523.28 1046.56

C# 69.30 138.60 277.20 554.40 1108.80

D 73.42 146.84 293.68 587.36 1174.72

D# 77.78 155.56 311.12 622.24 1244.48

E 82.41 164.82 329.64 659.28 1318.56

F 87.31 174.62 349.24 698.48 1396.96

F# 92.50 185.00 370.00 740.00 1480.00

G 98.00 196.00 392.00 784.00 1568.00

A♭ 103.83 207.66 415.32 830.64 1661.28

Emmanuel Jebarajan
 A good music depends on the notes
we play and the duration for each no
te
Depending on the frequency of the not
es the scale is formed.